Naomi Alderman with the cover of her sci-fi thriller, The Power.
Photograph: Justine Stoddard/Baileys Women's/PA

A science fiction book imagining a world where women develop a power to hurt or kill men with a single touch has been shortlisted for a major literary prize.

Naomi Alderman’s thriller The Power is one of six books shortlisted for the £30,000 Baileys women’s prize for fiction, an award which has been celebrating fiction written by women in English since 1996.

The strikingly diverse list, announced at an event in central London, includes one former winner in Linda Grant and one debut novelist in Ayòbámi Adébáyò.

Alderman’s book is unusual in that it can happily be called a sci-fi thriller – a genre rarely seen on literary fiction prize lists.

“Yes I think that’s true, that’s an exciting thought,” said Tessa Ross, the film and TV producer who is chairing this year’s judging panel. “She comes from a tradition that I suppose is represented by someone like Margaret Atwood. It is a very exciting, bold, accessible, beautifully written sci-fi book.”

Baileys prize 2017 longlist – in pictures

Read more

The novel, Alderman’s fourth, opens with teenage girls all over the world developing the ability to kill with a single electrical touch. They pass the power to all women and soon sex traffickers and rapists are getting their comeuppance; revolutions are also taking place in Riyadh and Delhi.

Ross said all readers, men or women, would have a wonderful time with the novel. “From that first page you will be grabbed.” she adds.

Alderman, also a games writer and former gaming columnist for the Guardian, said her reaction on hearing she was on the shortlist was “very excited and pleased and a bit surprised … I instantly wanted to know who else was on the list.”

She said prizes such as the Baileys were hugely important for writers, recalling her experience as a previous winner of an Orange award for new writers. “It was incredibly important for my career … it really does make a difference. It is a tremendous privilege to be on this list.”

A small number may have taken it the wrong way though. “There are some people who have not taken what I hoped people would take from the book … some people seem to think I’ve written a book about how women are awful, which is a surprise to me.

“Most readers are clever enough to have understood what I was getting at. Just to say, I don’t think women are any nicer than men on average … controversial? I don’t think gender has anything to do with whether you are nice or horrible really.”

Madeleine Thien: ‘In China, you learn a lot from what people don’t tell you’

The shortlist was chosen from a list of 16 novels and some big-hitters that have fallen by the way side include Atwood, Annie Proulx and Rose Tremain.

Ross said that was a reflection of what was “an incredibly rich year in every single way”.

She said the process had been “hugely pleasurable” but complicated. “You always long to have more books than you can select. We’ve ended up with a list that we all feel very excited by, there’s a cohesive judging panel who feel thrilled by the short list but also conflicted always about having to leave some out, always.”

The prize, previously won by writers such as Ali Smith, Zadie Smith, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and Andrea Levy, was known as the Orange prize between 1996-2012 and has been the Baileys, after the liqueur, since 2014. Organisers hope to announce a new sponsor in June when this year’s winner is named.